Key events
Spain 2-0 Czechia
Switzerland 2-1 Slovenia
… are the other scores on the doors at half-time.
Half-time reading:
Half-time: North Macedonia 0-1 Scotland
Scotland have been excellent, but to be hyper-critical, they should have scored more.
Scottish fans will hope the floodgates will open after half-time.
45 min + 3: Gilmour shows some silky skills on the edge of a packed penalty area. He makes a darting run, but North Macedonia hold their shape and hold firm.
45 min: We’ll have three minutes of stoppage time, minimum.
Mladenovski is booked for pulling back McBurnie.
44 min: Djekov is booked for a cynical block on Welsh, who’d touched the ball beyond him and was about to run free. No complaints.
42 min: Elmas fouls Ferguson around halfway. A soft one, and you could say good game management from Scotland, edging their way to half-time with this handy 1-0 lead. They need another goal or two, though.
Goal: Switzerland 2-1 Slovenia (Ndoye 38)
The Nottingham Forest forward is on target for the Swiss, and they lead in Lucerne, despite falling behind early doors.
Goal: Spain 2-0 Czechia (Rodri 35)
The former Manchester City legend doubles Spain’s lead.
34 min: “After the Clarke era, Pocognoli has not been afraid to make changes, but was under pressure already to get a result,” emails Simon McMahon.
“Bowie up front has been our star man tonight, and Robertson and McGinn are still heroes. Let’s dance!”
Yes, fair play, thanks for doing that Simon.
33 min: Doak hits a cracking shot from distance. Dimitrievski makes a smart save, plucking the swerving, powerful effort out of the air and gathering it cleanly.
30 min: Two changes for North Macedonia, half an hour in. Sedloski has seen enough. Stankovski and Herrera are hooked, Djekov and Atanasov are on.
29 min: A super challenge by Scott McKenna stops a dangerous attack by North Macedonia in its tracks.
Suddenly, at the other end, Bowie touches the ball past the goalie, and only had a defender to beat with his shot, but he hits it straight at him!
28 min: Scotland are all over them. Bowie does brilliantly to cut a ball back from the byline. But Doak hits it wildly over the bar from around the penalty spot.
26 min: Scotland win a corner. Ferguson knocks it full gun to the back post. Another corner results. McGinn takes it from the other side, it’s a poor one, but he gets another go. Scotland need to go for the jugular here, because they are well on top.
22 min: Ilievski is in again down the North Macedonia right. He makes it to the edge with a driving run, and then fires a shot over the crossbar. Miovski, of Rangers, makes his feelings known in the middle after being ignored by his teammate. For the first time, Scotland’s defence was a bit out of position there.
20 min: Ilievski makes a dart down the hosts’ right and crosses, but it sails out for a goal kick.
18 min: North Macedonia haven’t had a sniff. Scotland are controlling possession and territory. Ideally they’d be 2-0 up based on the chances they’ve created, but it’s been an excellent start.
14 min: Robertson has his 18th effort on goal for Scotland tonight. OK, maybe his fourth, but he’s got his shooting boots on. This one is from the edge, and bends over the crossbar.
Goal: Switzerland 1-1 Slovenia (Janza OG 11)
Who else?
Goal: Spain 1-0 Czechia (Lamine Yamal 6)
Who else?
11 min: “Hi Luke,” writes Simon.
Hi, Simon.
“The Pocognoli Scotland era has got off to a, eh, slow start, but there were some positive signs in the second half in Slovenia last week, and it’s still early days. The less said about the Switzerland game on Tuesday the better. We could really do with a win tonight though.”
9 min: Robertson is in again on the Scotland right! McGinn plays him in with a stunning curling delivery from deep, he holds off the defender, and slides a shot agonisingly wide! McBurnie, who was booked a few minutes ago for I’m not quite sure what, was free in the middle. Hopefully Scotland will not rue that miss.
Now, there is a dog on the pitch.
Goal! 6 min: North Macedonia 0-1 Scotland (Bowie)
What a hit! Kieron Bowie, currently on loan at Sassuolo, is off the mark at international level. He takes a ball to feet from Gilmour with his back to goal, gets it out of his feet and away from the covering central defenders, and hammers a shot, back across the keeper, into the bottom corner from well outside the area. That was class.
4 min: Robertson chases a fine pass down the wing, hits an ambitious shot early, but high and wide.
Seconds later, the ball breaks to the same man on the edge of the box. Robertson controls his first-time shot superbly, and it’s rising into the roof of the net with plenty of power, but Dimitrievski manages to beat it out for a corner.
Goal: Switzerland 0-1 Slovenia
Zan Vipotnik with the early goal in Lucerne.
2 min: Eljif Elmas, formerly of Napoli, makes a run down the hosts’ right and bends over a cross. Gunn deals with it easily.
First half kick-off!
Allez!
If you offered Scotland a 7-0 win, I fancy they’d take it.
Goce Sedloski, the North Macedonia manager, is under plenty of pressure after two defeats, no goals scored, five goals conceded in this Nations League campaign. There was apparently talk of a fan boycott tonight – but there is a decent crowd in. The pitch is in poor condition and this is going to be a test for Scotland …
Players are on the pitch. Anthems being belted out. Here we go!
Andy Robertson, the Scotland captain, wins his 100th international cap tonight. The full-back made his debut in 2014.
Pocognoli is also asked about the soon-to-be cap centurion: “It’s a privilege for all of us to be next to him tonight. I’m sure the best thing for him is to get a win, and he will have the best memories … I hope we can continue the process [of Robertson playing for Scotland and winning caps] and he will have a great time with us.”
“We are excited to see a I hope a good game for 90 minutes,” the Scotland head coach, Pocognoli, tells the BBC. “I hope there will be a clear structure for all of us … Ben [Doak] is starting on the right side today … let’s hope we can see his quality, and that we can be offensive in the opponent’s box.
“We always bring a gameplan where we want to be offensive, and try to create chances … the first game [against Slovenia] we created a lot, enough to win the game, in terms of creating chances it was one of the biggest performances from the last few years, against that level of opponent… we did well. Today I hope we can do the same and to be more clinical in the box.
“Let’s just focus on a good process, and hopefully a good game.
“The pitch [which is apparently in poor condition] is the same for both teams … it means we can miss a pass or make a bad control, but we always have a counter-press … we need to be ready, if we cannot play short passes, to explore a bit more the depth … we have a lot of quality to explore different areas of the game.”
Scotland haven’t won since beating Haiti in June: but they also haven’t scored a single goal in the four matches since.
Spain v Czechia teams
Spain: Raya; Fresneda, Le Normand, Laporte, García; Rodri, Pedri; Lamine Yamal, Olmo, Baena; Fernández.
Czechia: Kinsky; Sacek, Chaloupek, Krejci, Slama; Ambros, Macek, Kral; Radosta, Hlozek, Lingr.
Referee: Vasilis Fotias (Greece)
The midfielder Fabián Ruiz left the Spain squad on Saturday to be present for the birth of his first child in Paris, the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) said.
The 30-year-old Paris Saint-Germain player will miss the Nations League match against Czechia on Saturday in Oviedo.
The RFEF did not say if he will return for Spain’s final match of the international window against Croatia in Split on Tuesday.
Ruiz started both games as world champions Spain started their campaign with wins over England and Croatia. AFP
Kick-off in Skopje is a mere 25min away.
Mail me with your thoughts, Scotland fans.
Over on Channel Rugby, Lee Calvert has the Super League Grand Final here:
Jacob Steinberg
It had all the edge of a pop concert in the stands but England looked ready to steal candy from a baby. The 6,200 Croatian under-14s allowed inside Stadion HNK Rijeka were invited free of charge and this was a priceless footballing experience. England ripped Croatia to shreds to take a firm grip on second place in their Nations League group, boosting their hopes of reaching next year’s quarter-finals, and anyone supporting the home team could at least find consolation in watching Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham combine to devastating effect.
North Macedonia v Scotland teams
Two changes for Scotland made by Sébastien Pocognoli: Stephen Welsh and Ben Doak come into the defence – Jack Hendry is suspended after his red card against Switzerland. I make it six changes for the hosts: Omeragikj, Elezi, Mitrovski, Atanasov, Stojchevski, Musliu all come into the starting lineup after their two disappointing Nations League results thus far.
North Macedonia: Dimitrievski, Mladenovski, Meljichi, Musliu, Ilievski, Gashtarov, Stankovski, Herrera, Bardhi, Elmas, Miovski. Substitutes: Taleski, Siskovski, Stojchevski, Djekov, Elezi, Omeragikj, Kostadinov, Doriev, Mitrovski, Atanasov, Maleski, Rastoder.
Scotland: Gunn, Welsh, McKenna, Binks, Doak, Ferguson, Gilmour, Robertson, McGinn, Bowie, McBurnie. Substitutes: Kelly, Bain, Hickey, Doig, Ure, Christie, Graham, Donovan, Patterson, Miller, Montgomery, McPake.
Referee: Francois Letexier (France)
Switzerland v Slovenia teams
Switzerland: Kobel, Athekame, Elvedi, Akanji, Rodriguez, Jashari, Freuler, Aebischer, Manzambi, Ndoye, Amdouni. Substitutes: Mvogo, Keller, Monteiro, Sow, Sierro, Comert, Schmidt, Bajrami, Britschgi, Rieder, Sanches, Boteli.
Slovenia: Oblak, Drkusic, Bijol, Zec, Janza, Matko, Zabukovnik, Karnicnik, Lovric, Vipotnik, Sturm. Substitutes: Urbancic, Kuzmic, Balkovec, Vekic, Vidovsek, Begic, Elsnik, Celar, Svetlin, Horvat, Brekalo, Cerin.
Referee: Ivan Kruzliak (Slovakia)
John McGinn has learned to cope with his detractors amid criticism of his form for Scotland. The 31-year-old Aston Villa captain has 91 caps and played at three major tournaments with the national team.
But McGinn’s first-choice status has been called into question after an underwhelming World Cup and after two matches of this Nations League campaign.
“The nature of the beast is, at club and country, you have a lot of responsibility, a lot of weight on your shoulders,” McGinn said. “When you do something well, you’re the best thing since sliced bread. When you don’t have a great couple of games … you’re automatically not good enough.
“It’s the nature of competing with Scotland and with Aston Villa. I take the praise with a big smile. Any criticism that comes, it’s just part of it … Everyone’s entitled to their opinion, but if you go through a spell where you’re not doing too well, you need to find that inner self-belief.
“The older you get, you learn how to manage tough moments better. You know after a game like Switzerland, losing 3-0 at home, do you turn the telly on? No. Do you listen to radio reports? No … The lows get lower, and the highs become less high. But you certainly deal with it a lot better when you’re older.
“I think when you’re younger, it completely consumes you, and you try and work too hard … But I feel as if I’m managing those times well, and they come quite often … the challenges come in different ways, and I’m used to dealing with them.” PA Media
I’ve accused Harry Kane of plenty of things over the years, but child cruelty is a new one. He has two, Bukayo Saka has two, Jude Bellingham and Anthony Gordon one each.
Team news for North Macedonia v Scotland and the other 7.45pm BST kick-offs when we get it.
England, meanwhile, are mercilessly thrashing Croatia in Rijeka – the score stands at 6-0 with 15min remaining. Join Scott Murray:
There are thousands of children in the stadium and as Lee Dixon recently remarked, “A lot of the kids have lost interest now.”
Preamble
Will Sébastien Pocognoli record his first victory with Scotland against North Macedonia in Skopje? Appointed in September following Steve Clarke’s post-World Cup departure, the Belgian oversaw an encouraging 0-0 draw in Slovenia last Saturday, before a 3-0 defeat by Switzerland at Hampden Park on Tuesday that featured an early red card for Jack Hendry.
After edging past Haiti 1-0 in Boston on 14 June, Scotland were beaten by Morocco and Brazil at the World Cup: fans will fancy a win is overdue. The Nations League Group B1 table would suggest that, too: Scotland sit third with a point from two matches, only above tonight’s opponents, who have played two, lost two, and conceded five goals.
Our focus will be on the feast of football that will be North Macedonia v Scotland, but Spain v Czechia and Switzerland v Slovenia are also on the menu, so I’ll do my level best to bring you updates from all three matches.
Kick-offs are at 7.45pm BST.
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